Sheffield United: Boss reveals exactly what he has told his team about their promotion chances
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Despite scoring victories over fellow promotion contenders Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough in recent weeks, as well as condemning runaway leaders Fulham to a rare defeat before Christmas, United have been collecting injuries at an alarming rate as the demands of their revised fixture schedule begins to take its toll.
Heckingbottom could be without nine senior players for tomorrow’s visit to Coventry City, prompting him to identify fitness issues as “the biggest threat” to United’s hopes of qualifying for the postseason knockouts.
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Hide AdBut revealing he gathered their squad together for a pep talk ahead of the meeting with Mark Robins’ side, Heckingbottom said: “I’ve told the players, when they’re at their best then they’ve won. We have won when we haven’t been at our best, and you need to be able to do that.
“But what I really like is that, when they’ve been as good as we know they can be, they’ve always come out on top. That tells you something about the standards they can set. We wanted to remind them of that.
“The only times we haven’t won is when we haven’t been at our best.”
United prepared for their meeting with 11th placed City in fifth, after beating a Middlesbrough side managed by Heckingbottom’s predecessor Chris Wilder 4-1 on Tuesday night.
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“If we can replicate that every game, I’d say we’ll get in (the play-offs),” Heckingbottom said. “But football isn’t as predictable as that.”